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Thread: HOw much for a COC

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    HOw much for a COC

    What do you do ... you contact an electrical contractor and ask "how much to do a COC" and that is where the fight starts.

    For F%^&& sakes people ... can who ever is responsible for "educating the public on the correct procedure get off your lazy A$$ and go do your job" ... the same tunes plays every day.

    "The electrician is trying to rip me off ... he quoted R650 to do a COC and now now wants R10 000 to fix a long list of faults "

    My advise ... tell him to go screw himself ... if he quoted R650 for a COC ... he must product a COC for R650 ... its that simple.

    Until people start doing it right ... I dont feel sorry for electricians who offer to product a COC for R650 or R1500 ... I tell my customers to tell the fool go fly a kite.

    If you are that stupid that you to do a COC for R1500 without first offering to carry out an inspection report ... I will see you in court with my customer.


    The procedure is simple ... when a customer calls and requests a COC ... advise the customer that an inspection report is required first ... if the house passes the inspection report then issue the COC ... it is impossible to carry a inspection report and issue a COC for R650 ... somebody is either cutting corners which will make you as the seller look stupid or expect a long fault list to make up the real money

    However another thing to take into consideration ... an inspector tests a property and writes ... no earth of light fitting ... incorrect wire size ... exposed wiring ... etc etc.

    I get the report in the mail box ... I contacted the customer and informed him that an inspection report is required and this is how much it will cost ... the customer indicated that the list was the inspection report ... well sorry for you ... there is nothing I can do with a silly list which doesnt identify the location nor the regulation pointing out why it is unsafe.

    Dont let these useless twits who call themselves electrical inspectors try make a quick buck.

    We all know customers are are not aware of the pirates skimming the industry with R650-R1500 inspections ...knowing that the money will be made creating a long list of faults for silly things ... with a pathetic report which means nothing to anyone else.

    My customers are getting smart ... they dont authourise the transfer until the COC is produced and checked. Most of my customers pay me to go and check the property once the COC is issued ... within a half and hour I am in and out.

    We cant another plumbing/electrical company doing favours for a friend again.

    FOr some people it is a life time investment ... dont be a fool.
    Comments are based on opinion...not always facts....that's why people use an alias.

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    while I am on a roll ... just because an electrician installs a socket outlet and issues a COC for the work carried out ... its doesnt mean he is now responsible for the entire property electrical installation.

    Just because an electrician does a few odd jobs your property doesnt mean he is now responsible for a COC for the entire property ... when you decide to sell.

    If you buy a property and the COC is not legit and you choose not to get a real inspection report and COC ... dont expect the electrician who does a couple odd jobs around the property to issue a COC when you decide to sell.

    If you are an electrical contractor and cant even do the job right on the property you are renting ... dont bullshyte the inspector that you will remove your crappy workmanship (feel sorry for your customers) when you leave ... your day will come.
    Comments are based on opinion...not always facts....that's why people use an alias.

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    Full Member markthespark's Avatar
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    Ha ha I feel your pain but I think you preaching to the converted. This needs to be on an estate agents forum or a home sellers forum.

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    Derlyn (11-Sep-21)

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    Site Caretaker Dave A's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ians View Post
    My customers are getting smart ... they dont authourise the transfer until the COC is produced and checked. Most of my customers pay me to go and check the property once the COC is issued ... within a half and hour I am in and out.

    And what do you charge for that?

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    It depends (not R650) ... in most cases there is a report attached to the visit ... then another visit and maybe even another visit ... until it is right.
    Comments are based on opinion...not always facts....that's why people use an alias.

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    So we have another situation yesterday ... the customer contacts a company offering to issue a COC ... they agree on a fee ... no mention of an inspection report is discussed ... the inspector arrives on site carries out ... wait for it ... yip you guessed it right ... and "inspection report" ... he leaves and no COC is issued ... why because the inspection report has a long list of faults ... so instead of getting a COC for the price discussed ... the customer ends up with a quote and long list of faults with no reference to any codes nor a detailed list of the locations etc ... just " light exposed wires" and so forth ... but the fight didnt start there ...but it is coming ... grab another beer .

    So the customer contacts me and requests a second opinion and a quote to correct the illegal parts of the installation mentioned in the quote ... there was no discussion about fees for an inspection report and now he cant issue a COC ... instead we did another inspection report and the list is even longer than the first list because we did it properly ... we took the DB cover off and used a tester to get test results ... but havent repaired all the issues ... only the ones list on the quote ... so I cant issue the COC ... unless I repair all the faults.

    The customer is now prepared to pay the inspector and requested the COC be issued before he will make payment ... because the information listed on the quote is complete ... but now the inspector wants to charge the customer for a reinspection.

    As a registered electrical contractor with a master electrician red card ... I have completed the work and tested my work to verify that it is correct and issued an invoice for the work carried out ... but the inspector insists that he must carry out another inspection report ... which he never issued because the house was not up to standard but offered the customer a COC for the amount discussed on the phone ... which he now wants.

    I am waiting for the COC so that I can attach my comments pictures and test results ... with regards to the other issue with the installation ... which would make his COC a fraudulant document.

    Time for a captains and coke ... to much work stuff for a weekend.
    Comments are based on opinion...not always facts....that's why people use an alias.

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    The way to fix this industry is every inspection report should be loaded to a database in the cloud which is accessible to everyone and all inspection reports and COC's should be recorded live with time and location stamped ... that way when super sparkie is sitting in his office creating COC's by the dozen its is recorded.

    There should also be a open source centre for all inspectors to query any confusion they might have ... which can be discussed in the open and a solution to the problem recorded so that in the future the inspector doesnt have some other bright spark trying to tell a customer that his installation is illegal .. just because he feels it is wrong ... without any reference to the code.

    All material should also be open source not restricted to one organisation ... just because people choose not to join an association ... there should be no discrimination ... the ECA or ECB choose to offer online certificates because that is the new requirement everyone should have access to the documents.
    Comments are based on opinion...not always facts....that's why people use an alias.

  9. #8
    Platinum Member Derlyn's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ians View Post

    Time for a captains and coke ....
    Rather make that a self brewed and distilled corn whiskey ( ujssm ) and leave the coke.

    Peace out ... Derek

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    I just don't touch that kind of work. I don't sign off someone elses work, don't sign an existing installation - only sign of my new installation work.

    Not worth the hassel.

    I condemned a building once (ceiling grid was live, no earth leakage on sockets, no incoming earth from municipality, numerous open ends) and was out by 9 in the morning. Someone else did a COC for it by 2 in the afternoon and I didn't get paid for my time as I was the one apparently "bul^$!&*(@*g" the client.

    Also try and avoid domestics as the work in the newer properties is usually crap. Even in high end domestics - looked at a job in Melrose arch recently 9 bar flat - can only assume the electrician that wired guessed to make it work. So many random connections, so many spare cables in the switch boxes. Complete mess.

    Seems to be spreading to commercial stuff more these days as well. Someone wired a compressor with 2.5mm 3 core cab tye (3 phase compressor) over a 100 meter long run on a 50 amp breaker and that was just the start of it.

    Nah. I'll leave that CoC work for someone else - not worth the trouble.

  11. #10
    Platinum Member Derlyn's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by skatingsparks View Post
    I just don't touch that kind of work. I don't sign off someone elses work, don't sign an existing installation - only sign of my new installation work.

    Not worth the hassel.

    I condemned a building once (ceiling grid was live, no earth leakage on sockets, no incoming earth from municipality, numerous open ends) and was out by 9 in the morning. Someone else did a COC for it by 2 in the afternoon and I didn't get paid for my time as I was the one apparently "bul^$!&*(@*g" the client.

    Also try and avoid domestics as the work in the newer properties is usually crap. Even in high end domestics - looked at a job in Melrose arch recently 9 bar flat - can only assume the electrician that wired guessed to make it work. So many random connections, so many spare cables in the switch boxes. Complete mess.

    Seems to be spreading to commercial stuff more these days as well. Someone wired a compressor with 2.5mm 3 core cab tye (3 phase compressor) over a 100 meter long run on a 50 amp breaker and that was just the start of it.

    Nah. I'll leave that CoC work for someone else - not worth the trouble.
    Morning brother

    No incoming earth from Municipality should not be a problem.
    Here in East London, there are whole suburbs where no Municipal earth is supplied ( 2 wire overhead supply )
    We hit in an earth spike, do an earth loop impedance test and away you go.

    Peace out .. Derek

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